


Hairdressing

by fumomoshi



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, barber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 12:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14790635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fumomoshi/pseuds/fumomoshi
Summary: Hairdresser AU, where Karu, Rudo and Rako are working as hairdressers. Sui, who has a crush on Karu, enters...





	Hairdressing

It is a slow afternoon. There are no customers, not since morning. Compared to the mess that is yesterday, a _ Sunday _ , today's lack of work comes as a shock to the hairdressers of “Simple Trim Rinse Cut Barbers”.

"I don't understand why we have to work on Monday," Karu pouts as he sweeps the floor for the umpteen time. He knows that it is pointless to sweep anymore but he just doesn't like sitting around doing nothing on a perfectly good day. "We should have it as a rest day since our weekends are so hectic."

"We are resting, technically." Rudo argues as he cleans and desensitizes all the blades in the shop. "We aren't doing anything."

"We are in prison!" Karu argues back. "Being in prison is not rest!"

"We are getting paid," Rudo retorts.

"I'd rather not," Karu sulks. Defeated, he takes the broom and drags his feet to the storeroom at the back.

"Oi, if you are going back to the storeroom, help me keep some of these blades and combs!"

Rako snickers over the cashier as the two bickers, counting the money they earned over the previous week. He doesn't like doing accounting much, but Rudo hates it more than he does, and Karu - well - seems liable to lose the money while counting. 

Wrapping a pile of notes and coins, he sighs as he decides to take a break. He sees a point in what Karu said though. Why work if there is no one in the streets? Isn't paying them for doing nothing pointless? Maybe he will bring that up to Nova the next time they meet. 

_ Hmm? _

Rako swears something is amiss at the corner of his eyes. Outside the shop, he sees the same figure suspiciously walking to and fro across their door, occasionally glancing inside nervously. _ Well, we have a customer. _

"Hey, it's that guy again." Rako says.

Rudo turns to the window and frowns. "Is he coming in?"

Rako sighs and locks the money he counted into the drawer along with the spreadsheet he was recording them in. He walks towards the door and opens it. "Yo," he calls to the suspicious person outside, flashing a smile. "You want to come in?"

"Ah! It's okay!" the man said, his voice flustered and a little panicky. "I'm just - er - walking around!"

Rako shakes his head at the bad lie and smiles. "If you want a haircut, you should just say so you know."

"I...it's just...you guys look busy so..."

"We are not," Rako says, opening the door wider. "Just come in. We don't have any customers anyway."

The man glances into the shop, at Rako and back into the shop again. He mutters something under his breath before giving a heavy "okay" as he enters. 

"Yo, Sui." Rudo greets the man. 

"Hey, don't call a customer by his first name; it's rude-o." Rako chuckles as Rudo winced at the terrible pun. He turns to Sui. "Right? Tachibana-san?"

"Ah," Sui's gives a slightly constipated face. "Sui is fine. Please call me Sui." He pauses and looks around the store. "I-Is h-he here?"

"He?" Rudo frowns. "Looking for someone?"

Rako gives an elbow nudge and a surreptitious wink at Rudo, who frowns even harder much to Rako's disappointment. Sui is not a new customer. He frequents this shop for months now, often coming in for simple trim and wash, which at first seemed strange since their shop charges a hefty sum for such a simple service; he is better off looking for a cheaper place.

Rako knows why Sui chooses this shop though. 

"Grab a seat," Rudo says as he stands up, preparing his tools for hairdressing. Rako sighs again. He turns to Sui and sees him making a slightly contorted anxious face, as if wanting to escape.

"Rucchan," Rako whispers. 

"What?"

"Don't you need to keep whatever you just desensitized? Let Karu do the cut instead."

Rudo pauses for a moment. "I guess so, since I was doing it." He calls towards the storeroom. "Oi, Karu! Customer!" With that, Rako winks at Sui, who gazes away, face flushing red, stumbling towards an empty seat near the window and opening up a magazine, pretending to read. 

Karu appears out of the storeroom, his eyes excited like a child receiving his first Christmas present. "Customer! Where!?" he asks, now sounding more like a questing adventurer trying to find an evil dragon. 

Rako gestures towards Sui. "He's yours."

"Oh! It's Sui!!" Karu yelps, as he skips towards him. 

Sui's eyes are fixated onto the magazine, not budging, but he manages to greet with a nervous "H-hi".

"So what can I do for you today? The usual? Trim?" Karu asks excitedly as he places himself behind Sui's seat.

"Er..." Sui thinks for a while. "I guess...trim?"

"Ehh??" Karu pouts. "But you are always triming only. There are cheaper places for that! Why don't you try those instead."

Rako tries his best to contain his laughter. He can't believe he is the only one who gets Sui's main reason for visit. "Why don't we give him a bit more service?" Rako calls to Karu. "Since he's a regular and all. We'll style his hair a bit more, and give it a rinse."

"Ah! I-it's okay! You don't have to! I have the money..." Sui tries to protest.

"It's fine," Rako replies. "We don't have much to do today anyway. Right, Karu?"

"Yeah!" Karu chuckles, measuring Sui's hair and ruffling it as he damps it with water.  "Okay Sui, look straight into the mirror."

Sui tries his best to do so, but ends up darting his eyes sideways repeatedly. Rako isn't even counting his money anymore; he finds the whole scene amusing, especially Sui's reactions. _ How cute, _ he thought.

* * *

 

Karu starts trimming, his hand brushing Sui's hair as he snips. Sui is facing the mirror but his eyes are down towards his magazine. The solitary snips from Karu's scissors echo in the room. In those moments, Sui had settled down, his posture more relaxed, but the silence is getting uncomfortable.

_ I should say something. "How was your day"? Is that too plain? I mean, he spent his day here so there should be nothing to talk about. How about "It's a nice day, isn't it?" Or should I just...ask. _

_ His legs fidgets a bit. In truth, in his pockets he holds two tickets to a movie that his mother passed him. "Go out with your friends," she said as she handed him the tickets. Sui doesn't have a 'best friend', and thinking of the implication of singling out a person to go out with in his circle of friends makes his stomach churn. _

And he thought that he could use this as a chance to ger closer with Karu.

_ "How's the weather"? No that's so cliche. How about… _

"So," Karu breaks the silence. "How was your day?"

Every thought in Sui's mind vanished, leaving behind nothing but a blank slate. "Ah! It was..." Sui looks out at the window.  _ What do I reply!  _ "It was exciting!"  _ No it wasn't,  _ he thought over Rako's coughs from across the room. 

 

"Oh?" Karu continues trimming without skipping a beat. "What happened?" 

_ Coming here was exciting, I guess? _ Sui swallows. He can't possibly say that! How is he supposed to continue the conversation?  _ Why is it exciting? To see you of course!  _ Sui feels blood raising to his face, forcing his feelings away without any movement, lest he runs into an accident with Karu's scissors. 

"O-oh, there is a new movie coming out recently! Have you heard?" Sui finally replies. "It's called ‘After Sunset‘."

"Oh! I have seen posters!" Karu says. "Looks like a romance movie!"

_ It..is?  _ Sui honestly had no idea. He was given the tickets by his mother and he did not check what movie it was; he was more caught up in the idea of asking someone else first so that the tickets do not go to waste.  _ Yes, it's so that the tickets go to waste, _ Sui repeatedly tells himself.

"Oho, sounds nice." Rako says from behind the counter.

Just then, Rudo appears out of the storeroom. "What, you want to watch?" he asks, overhearing their conversation. 

"What's this? Rucchan wants to watch a  _ romance _ movie with me?" Rako chuckles at the thought. 

"What. It's just a movie." Rudo clicks.

_ It's just a movie.  _ The words echo in Sui's mind. He shifts his legs nervously, his thumb rubbing nervously around the pocket where the tickets are.  _ It's just a movie, right? _

"It's a  _ romance _ movie, Rucchan. Only lovers watch them together, unless Rucchan finally admits that I am?" Rako snickers.

_ L-lovers?!  _ Sui feels his stomach churn.

_ " _ Tch," Rudo hisses. "Must I spell it out for you?"

Rako laughs. "Okay, if Rucchan says so, I'll go."

_ They are seeing each other?  _ Sui feels relief as well as surprise. Somehow he doesn't feel as nervous about asking Karu out in front of them.  _ But wait! What if Karu is already seeing someone? _ Sui's heart sinks.

"Sounds like fun!" Karu laughs along. "Is Sui going to watch?"

"Um..." Sui starts.  _ It's just a movie. Right. A  _ **_romance_ ** _ movie. Arg. _ "Um, I am. Um, do you want you watch?" He squirms a little.

"Yes! Why not!" Karu beams as he combs Sui's hair and snips his fringe, the hair falling causing Sui's nose to wiggle.

_ Y-yes? Ah, maybe he misunderstood.  _

"Ah, I meant...er...do you want to...I have two free tickets...so erm...do you want to..." 

"Oh, want to sell to u- _ hargh _ " Rudo chokes under Rako's sudden hold on him from the back. " _ Mmmph!"  _ He gags and struggles with Rako's hands on his mouth.

_ " _ Don't mind Ruuchan!" Rako says. "We'll get our own tickets. You can go with Karu."

Karu stops. The world seems to freeze around Sui, despite the violent struggling movements Rudo is making at the background against Rako. Butterflies are set off in his stomach as he feels the need to run out of the shop.  _ Ah but what about paying? _

"You don't mind?" Karu asks. 

Sui feels his heartbeat stop, unable to look into the mirror in front of him in fear of making eye contact. "Erm, I mean, if you have someone you'd rather go out with, I can pass you the tickets and it will be fin-"

"Ahaha! What's with that!" Karu's laugh fills the room. "Of course I don't mind going with you, Sui!"

At that moment, all the butterflies that he held in his stomach vanished, and room became livelier and brighter, as if Karu's laughter cast away all his shadows of worries and doubts. 

"Ahaha! You should smile like that more often, Sui." Karu says, adjusting Sui's face towards the mirror. "I like it!" 

_ S-smile? _

Sui looks into the mirror. In the mirror, Karu is beaming behind him, adjusting Sui's hair as he checks the mirror. He almost could not recognize himself as he sees a rather foreign wide grin spreads on his face. He struggles to hide it but Karu's hands prevented him from doing so, as he feels blood once again rushing to his face, making him feel like burying his face into a hole.

"Ah, erm. Not really...? I don't? Ah. Maybe?" Sui's mind raced to find the correct response. 

"T-thanks? Yours too?"  _ What am I doing?  _

_ " _ Hey! You are frowning again!" Karu pouts as he does the finishing touches. Sui tries to force a smile. From behind, he heard Rako trying hard to contain his laughter.

 

"Hmm, it's somehow not the same," Karu frowns as he blow-drys Sui's hair, ruffles it and tidies it. "There! We are done!" To Sui's shock, Karu pulls his cheeks into a smile. "Smile! Smile! See! Now you look handsome with this new haircut!"

"Pfft-!" Rako exhales from behind.

" _ Mmph-Ga-G _ aru!" Sui begs for mercy.

"Ahaha! Your face is really red!" Karu laughs as he releases. "Okay we are done here so let's wash your hair!"

Sui stands to follow Karu. At the corner of his eyes, he sees Rako giving him a thumbs up, while Rudo watches on with a confused look on his face, apparently finally catching on to what's happening. 

_ Oh right, the movie. _

"Ah, so, you are okay?" Sui asks.

"The movie? Sure! Just tell me when!"

Sui checks the tickets. "Saturday. Apparently."

"Oh, then shall we go on Saturday too?" Rudo asks Rako. 

There is a short moment of silence. Rako shakes his head in disbelief. "I..." he sighs, giving a disappointed look at Rudo. "...have something on that day. Let's look for another day."

Sui heaves a sigh of relief, and blushes momentarily as he sees Rako gives him another surreptitious thumbs up.

 


End file.
